Scale External Links

This page lists qualified and validated external links to S-scale scale modeling on the Internet. Click the title to visit the web site. Links are organized by category. Links are validated every Monday. Shown are the date the link was added to this page, and when it was last reviewed to verify its content.

How to remove the smoke unit from an S-Helper Service 2-8-0.(added: 06/29/2014; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

PDF document. Model Railroader magazine published Brooks Stover's "A Model Railroader's Guide to Digital Photography", and both Model Railroader and Brooks have provided permission for us to re-post his guide.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 04/07/2016)

Michael Greene shows the installation of two different DCC decoders in this engine.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 04/18/2018)

Roy Hoffman's article on using foamcore board to make basic, but good-looking structures.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

Darby Marriot shares how he installed battery-power and Bluetooth smart phone control into an S-Helper Service SW9 locomotive. BlueRail Trains enables radio-control of an engine using the Bluetooth communication system embedded in today's smart phones. It also enables the ability to power the locomotive using small rechargeable batteries. The article describes the components that Darby used and even provides a nice diagram for how to fit the components, as well as installation photos.(added: 07/12/2016; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

How to convert a Lionel AF 2-8-2 to DCC. Includes photos and short videos.(added: 06/29/2014; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

Bill Clark shows how he converted an old American Flyer steam locomotive to modernday DCC. There is also a link in the page to a video showing the converted engine running on a loop of track, with sound and steam.(added: 06/29/2014; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

Information about installing scale couplers on S-Helper Service cars.(added: 06/29/2014; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

Information about S-Helper Service and Kadee S-scale couplers.(added: 06/29/2014; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

The late Tom Troughton, Sn3 modeler and prolific author, writes about how to install clear plastic in a tender's dog house without having access to the interior of the cabin.(added: 03/17/2015; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

A photo album of some of Bill Beverly's Sn3 brass locomotives.(added: 03/15/2017)

A photo album of some of Bill Beverly's Sn3 freight cars.(added: 03/15/2017)

In this article the author built a simulated S-scale autorack car using a piece of 2x4, to test for overhang on curves. Links to several videos he took are also included.(added: 02/02/2017; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

A photo showing Don Thompson at the 2004 booth, with the company's traveling layout still under construction.(added: 04/07/2018)

(added: 06/11/2016; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

Mike Wolf, CEO of MTH, shows hand-held footage of his visit to the MTH factory. You get a real behind-the-scene view of how our trains are actually made. He mentions the area where the MTH S-scale F3 engines are/were built.(added: 02/15/2018)

Photos of a CNR T-3-a that Simon custom-built.(added: 06/17/2016; last reviewed: 03/07/2018)

Organizations

(added: 03/15/2018)

(added: 03/15/2018)

The NMRA S Scale SIG is undertaken by a group of enthusiastic S-scale modelers. It offers digital newsletters, discussion forums, and interesting articles. The whole site is dedicated to scale modeling only. NMRA membership is not required, but encouraged. The purpose of this SIG is to promote S "scale" modeling to the rest of the NMRA community.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

Following a variety of trains around the club's layout at the train show. A lot of track-level shots as well.(added: 12/18/2016)

Ken Zieska recorded some action on Bob Frascella's layout, including catching the two 3D-printed locomotives, which he designed, assembled, painted, and decorated. Bob's layout was open as part of the 2018 NASG Convention.(added: 08/14/2018)

Bob's layout, which was open during the 2018 NASG Convention, shares a nice video about his layout. Note that the second-generation diesel locomotives were scratchbuilt using 3D-printing technology!(added: 10/16/2018)

A visit to Dave's layout shows his completed scenery, and also provides an onboard video feed. This 1970s-era basement layout is still under construction.(added: 08/14/2018)

Ed Sauers converted his Rex 0-4-0 to battery power. He switched to using a Cannon can motor, NWSL double-idler gearbox, and installed a 3.7 500maH battery with a voltage stepper to convert the output to 12 volts, and used the MRC Loco Genie to control the engine.(added: 01/28/2017)

Jonathan Hatfield shows what this decoder sounds like in a S-Helper Service SW1 using a Tang Band speaker.(added: 07/13/2018)

A promotional video by the company that produced the layout's backdrops.(added: 02/16/2018)

Hugh Sinn was able to run his Reading T1, originally built by Frank Titman, on a local S-scale layout under construction. This video shows the engine running, and pulling a long string of hoppers. Hugh re-motored the engine as well as installed DCC and sound into it.(added: 01/21/2018)

A complete S-scale layout built by SMARTTinc.(added: 02/16/2018)

The S-scale layout uses code 100 rail. The equipment has hi-rail wheels. Turnouts are scratchbuilt. Couplers are Kadee-style. A direct link to the video is available on YouTube.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 04/07/2018)

(added: 07/07/2017)

(added: 07/07/2017)

Jerry Wilson shows how he is installing the S-CAB radio-control with battery-power option into an Sn3 tender. His installation includes the use of the Tsunami sound decoder. Note that technology is always improving, so some of the components Jerry uses in the video have already been made smaller. Also, Jerry's installation has the antenna sticking out (the lightblue rectangular part). Neil Stanton can provide the antenna in different configurations, so that you don't need to struggle with it like Jerry does (as a matter of fact, that orientation of antenna is no longer available). Nevertheless, it is a very well-done video showing how to fit all the components into a tiny tender. Be sure to catch part 2 (programming the engine's address), and part 3 (working with LEDs).(added: 07/05/2016; last reviewed: 07/14/2016)

(added: 07/07/2017)

S Scale Locomotive & Supply offered a conversion of the Lionel 2-8-8-2 locomotive's wheels to "scale". Here is the first such conversion running on Ed Loizeaux' layout.(added: 11/24/2013; last reviewed: 04/21/2018)

A number of different SC70ACe locomotives hooked-up together.(added: 04/16/2018)

Mark is about to move, so he decided to capture his hi-rail layout on video. The layout measures 9'x13'. With the help of his daughter, he captured the layout, which has already been taken down by the time this was posted on the NASG web site.(added: 08/14/2018)

A slow run-by of John Bortz's beautiful engine, which has sound installed in it.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 04/18/2018)

Lots of animation and train operations on this fully-scenicked layout.(added: 03/31/2018)

The owner installed DCC with sound in his 1989-vintage P-B-L K-27 after restoring it and replacing the motor. A LokSound decoder was installed in the tender. A second decoder, a LokPilot Fx, is installed in the boiler to handle the lighting effects. This was done to cut down on the number of wires between the tender and the locomotive.(added: 08/13/2018)

Many trains are up and running on this hi-rail layout.(added: 04/19/2018)

(added: 08/22/2014)

A brief recording of the S Scale MRS Llanfair modular layout recorded at the 2017 Warley Model Railway Show by Kathy Millatt. The S-scale layout starts at about the 8:50 minute mark. It shows some switching moves.(added: 12/16/2017)

(added: 06/22/2014)

An American Models SD60 pulls a special train with this car.(added: 12/21/2013; last reviewed: 06/25/2018)

Ed installed a 11x15x4mm cell phone speaker with a wood enclosure without taking the engine apart. What he did was to slide the speaker and enclosure in the opening just above the cylinder valve gear and worked it into the space just behind the cylinder saddle, the enclosure sits against the rear of the saddle and points rearward. He used some very fine Lok-Sound speaker wire and used superglue to attach them to the bottom of the frame and ran them back to the cab, where he then split the two wires and ran one to each of the existing wiring bundles and into the tender. He has a QSI Titan DCC sound decoder installed, which is a true 2-channel stereo sound decoder. He was able to program it to send only the chuff and cylinder cock sounds to that speaker.(added: 01/28/2016)

Jerry Wilson demonstrates the built structure, along with the animation he has put into it.(added: 10/21/2015; last reviewed: 03/15/2017)

Scale Discussion Groups

A low-volume discussion group about pre-1970s 1:64 automobiles.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 08/13/2018)

For sale, trade, or wanting to buy S items. Mostly AF/hi-rail, but some "scale" or "adaptable-to-scale" items appear from time to time. The moderator of this group has lost his password and is unable to gain access. This means that existing subscribers can continue to post, but new subscribers cannot be approved.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 08/13/2018)

Discussion group for modeling in Proto:64. Appears to be inactive.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 08/13/2018)

(added: 06/30/2017; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

S-scale brass discussion group. Appears to be inactive and unmoderated (the moderator lost his ability to log into his Yahoo account, Yahoo won't offer any help, so he is unable to do anything to the list).(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 08/13/2018)

S-Helper Service's discussion group. Although S-Helper Service was bought out by M.T.H., many of their products are still available for sale in the secondary market.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 08/13/2018)

Scale Layouts

Using HO-scale track, the author models narrow-gauge in California. The web site includes photos and articles.(added: 09/05/2018)

Many photos taken at Roger Nulton's standard-gauge layout open during the Symposium. Note that you can click on the photos for a large, high-resolution version.(added: 07/14/2015; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

(added: 07/28/2014)

Sn2 Crew member Lee Rainey interview at the 2014 NMRA National Convention, Cleveland, OH. Starts at about 13:45 into the video; to the left of Lee is Frank Knight and to the right is Gary Carmichael.(added: 08/13/2014; last reviewed: 03/28/2018)

There are 8 parts to this video, showcasing the various layouts open for the tours for the Convention. So, be sure to see the other videos.(added: 03/31/2016; last reviewed: 04/07/2016)

Interview and video of the McKenzie Brothers' Timber Company Red Mountain Sn3 layout. The layout was also shown at the 2010 Sn3 Symposium in Houston, as well as several other shows.(added: 09/07/2013; last reviewed: 04/07/2016)

The S Scale Workshop exhibited its free-mo style modular layout at the 2016 Copetown Train Show on March 5-6, 2016 in southern Ontario. This video captures a "cab-ride" view.(added: 03/09/2016)

NASG member and modeler Jim Kindraka had a display at the October 2017 RPM show in Lisle, Illinois. The Flicker photo album linked to is to page three of the album. Near the bottom of that page is where Jim's models are shown. They continue on to page 4 of the photo album, so be sure to click on that. They include a photo of is S Scale America RS-1 engine.(added: 11/12/2017)

RMC posted a few photos of S-scale products and layout.(added: 02/02/2017)

Photos Simon Parent took while at the convention.(added: 06/17/2016; last reviewed: 03/07/2018)

This video shows a very long freight train making it through the reversing loop on the club's layout at the show in Montreal. This video shows an onboard view of the entire layout as set up at that show.(added: 08/23/2017)